Efficiency of Planetary Gearsets

The topic of geartrain efficiency has been much studied in the past 100 years, and no
simple, all-encompassing theory has emerged. For the purposes of our analysis, it is
sufficient to estimate efficiency using the methods of Merritt [1], although many other
methods are available. It is common to calculate the power lost in the meshing of two
gears as

Pout=E0Pin
where Pin is the power input into the gear pair, Pout is the power available to be
transmitted "downstream" and E0 is called the "basic efficiency". Most of the power is
lost in the gear pair through the rubbing (friction) of the gear teeth as the motion is
transmitted, although some is also lost due to friction in the bearings. The efficiency of a
pair of gears can be calculated as

E0=1L
where L is the power loss, as estimated in the chart shown below. The chart gives an
initial estimate of the power loss in a given gear pair, and the rules given in the next
section (described by Molian [2]) can help to refine this estimate.

If a geartrain is composed of more than one pair, the efficiencies of both pairs are
multiplied to obtain the overall efficiency. Thus, for a compound geartrain with two pairs,
the overall efficiency is

E0=E1E2
E0=(1L1)(1L2)
Expanding this equation gives

E0=1L1L2+L1L2
As seen in the chart, the losses for any individual gear pair are very small, usually on the
order of 2% or less. Thus, the term L1L2 (which is on the order of 0.0004) is usually
negligible relative to the other loss terms (on the order of 0.02) and we may safely omit
it. Thus, a good approximation for the efficiency of a compound geartrain is

E0=1L1L2...Ln
According to Molian, a few simple rules suffice to approximate the efficiency of a
compound geartrain.
Rules for Calculating Power Loss of a Pair of Spur Gears
1

For external spur gears take the values for L from the table above
For an internal spur gear mated with an external spur gear, modify the value
of Lby the following equation

Lint=R1R+1Lext
where R is the number of teeth in the large gear divided by the number of
teeth in the small gear.

For helical gears the value of L given by the chart must be multiplied by 0.8
cos, where is the spiral angle. If one of the helical gears is internal, we
must modify L as in Rule 2, above.

For bevel gears the number of teeth in each wheel must be multiplied by
sec , where is the pitch-cone angle. These new values for the numbers
of teeth are used in the chart to find L.

Looking at Rule 2 in the table above we see that an internal gear pair will have lower
losses than an external pair, if the gear ratio, R, is small. This is the reason that
planetary gearsets commonly use internal gears in their design.

Example 1
Calculate the efficiency of an external spur gear pair where the pinion has 16 teeth and
the gear has 32 teeth. Repeat the calculation if the 32-tooth gear is internal.

Answer
Examining the chart above, we see that the power loss for the external gear pair is
0.018, or 1.8%. For the internal pair we have R = 2, so that

LintLintLint=R1R+1Lext=212+10.018=0.006
The losses for the internal gearset are 1/3 of that of the external gearset!

Planetary Gearset Efficiency

The section above provided a means of approximating the efficiency of the spur gears
themselves; we now turn our attention to finding the overall efficiency of the planetary
gearset. The method we will use is explained thoroughly by Molian [2], I will adopt a
slightlymodified explanation here, which I believe is a little clearer.
The first step in calculating the overall efficiency is (as before) to hold the arm fixed, and
calculate the basic efficiency, E0 of the gearset. This basic efficiency must be modified to
account for motion of the arm. As we will see, it is possible to design a planetary gearset
with a higher efficiency than E0, although it is also possible to design a planetary gearset
with such a low efficiency as to make it useless!

Absolute vs. Relative Velocities

We begin by noting that all power losses due to friction occur because of motion relative
to the arm in the gearset; that is, frictional losses can only occur when gear teeth are
rubbing against each other. If we were to rotate the entire gearset as a rigid unit, the
power loss would be zero, since the gear teeth would not be coming into and out of
mesh with each other. Thus, let us define two new angular velocity variables:

f=fa(1)
s=sa(2)
These are the angular velocities of shaft f and shaft s relative to the arm. Power losses
due to friction can only occur when these are nonzero. Rotating the entire gearset as a
rigid body would make

f=s=a
which would make

f=s=0
Thus, all frictional power losses are proportional to the relative angular
velocities, f and s, and not the absolute angular velocities,f, s and a.

Power Balance in the Planetary Gearset

We will now derive the power balance equation for the planetary gearset. We will
ultimately use this equation (along with a few others) to derive the expressions for
efficiency. Recall that the power transmitted by a shaft is the product of torque and
angular velocity

P=T
To begin the derivation, add the torques coming into the gearbox:

Tf+Ts+Ta=0(3)
In the expression above, it is clear that not all torques can be positive (or negative). If
the torque on a shaft has the same sign as its angular velocity, then we infer that the
shaft is being driven, usually by a motor. Conversely, if the torque has the opposite sign
as the angular velocity, we assume that the shaft is driving a load.
Torque & velocity have same sign Power > 0 Shaft is driven by motor
Torque & velocity have opposite sign Power < 0 Shaft is driving a load

Conservation of energy dictates that the power leaving the gearbox must be the same
as that entering the gearbox (for the moment assuming 100% efficiency.)

Pf+Ps+Pa=0(4)
Substitute torque and angular velocity for each shaft:

Tff+Tss+Taa=0(5)
But power losses are only proportional to the relative angular velocities, so substitute the
expressions in Equations 1 and 2 to obtain

Tf(f+a)+Ts(s+a)+Taa=0
rearrange slightly

Tff+Tss+(Tf+Ts+Ta)a=0
but the sum of all three torques is zero, as shown in equation (3) thus

Tff+Tss=0(6)
The first term in the expression above is the power consumed by the faster shaft, and
the second gives the power consumed by the slower shaft. Up to now we have assumed
100% efficiency in the geartrain. To make the analysis realistic, we must define two
cases:
1. Power enters through the fast shaft
E0Tff+Tss=0
2. Power enters through the slow shaft
Tff+E0Tss=0
In each expression, only a fraction of the power from the driving shaft is available to
the driven shaft.

Example 2: Efficiency of Simple Planetary Gearset

Let us revisit the simple planetary gearset shown in the figure at right. Recall that the
sun gear has 32 teeth, the planet has 16 and the ring has 64. We determined earlier that
the faster gear is the sun and the slower gear is the ring, and the basic ratio is

b=2
Assume that the basic efficiency of the sun/planet/ring is 95%, and that the sun gear is
being driven at 100rpm cw, with a load of 50 lbf-in applied to the ring. In this example,
the arm is held fixed. How much power is required to drive the sun gear?

Answer
Since the arm is held fixed, we have

f=f
s=s
Power enters through the sun (fast) gear and is transmitted to the ring (slow) gear, so
we can use the first of the efficiency expressions above

E0Tff+Tss=0
or

E0Tff+Tss=0
Solving for the power driving the fast gear gives

Pf=Tff=TssE0

If the sun gear spins at 100rpm cw, the ring gear will spin at

s=fb=1002=50rpm
Since the torque on the ring gear is a load, we assume that it acts in the opposite sense
that the ring gear is spinning. Thus

Ts=100lbfin
Substituting this into the power expression above gives

Pf=sTsE0=275.6lbfinsec
This example was fairly straightforward, since (with the arm fixed) the gearset behaves
as an ordinary, non-epicyclic gearset. In the next example, we will allow the arm to
rotate.

Example 3: Efficiency of the Simple Planetary Gearset

For this example, let the input be the sun gear, the output be the arm, and let the ring be
fixed. The load on the arm is 50 lbf-in and the sun spins at 100rpm. If the basic efficiency
is 95%, what is the efficiency of the planetary gearset in driving the load?

Answer
As before, the "fast" gear is the sun gear and "slow" gear is the ring. Before beginning, it
is helpful to assess the known and unknown quantities in this problem:

Known: Ta,E0,b,s=ring,f=sun
Unknown: Tf=Tsun,Ts=Tring,a

The definition of overall efficiency is

E=PoutPin=ToutoutTinin=TaaTff
where, in this case, the input is the sun gear and the output is the arm. First, let us find
the speed of the arm, using the basic kinematic equation for the planetary gearset

a=fbs1b
where

s=0rpm

f=100rpm
a=10001(2)=33.33rpm
Since the load torque must have the opposite sign as the shaft speed, we take

Ta=50lbfin
The power consumed in driving the load with the arm is

Pout=Taa=174.51lbfinsec
To calculate power loss in the gearset, we use the efficiency expression given in case 1

E0Tff+Tss=0
f=fa=10033.33=66.66rpm
s=sa=033.33=33.33rpm
We still don't know the torque on the ring or the sun, but we can use the fact that the
torques must sum to zero to find an expression for Ts.

Ts=TfTa
Substituting this into the efficiency expression and solving for Tf gives

Tf=TasE0fs=50(33.33)0.9566.66(33.33)=17.24lbfin
The overall efficiency is then

E=TaaTff=5033.3317.24100=96.7%

A More General Procedure

The procedure outlined above is tedious and prone to error, and can be simplified
considerably by combining the formulas we derived earlier into two tables, as shown
below. The first table lists the overall ratios, torques, and efficiencies for the case where
the basic ratio is greater than 1, and the second gives the same quantities for basic ratio
less than -1. In all cases, the input shaft is defined as the one where torque and speed
have the same sign, and the output shaft is the one where torque and speed have
opposite sign.

Case

Input
Shaft

Fixed
Shaft

Output
Shaft

Overall
Ratio

Fast

Slow

Arm

1b

Tf

Ts

1bE01Ta bE01bE0Ta

Ta

Efficiency

Ta

bE01b1

1E0bTs

Fast

Arm

Slow

Slow

Fast

Arm

b1b

Slow

Arm

Fast

1b

Tf

Arm

Fast

Slow

bb1

Arm

Slow

Fast

11b

Ts

1E0bE0bTs

E0

Ta

bE01E0(b1)

bE0Tf

bE0E0Tf

E0

E0bTs

Ts

E0bbTs

b1bE0

Tf

bE0Tf

1bE01Ta bE01bE0Ta

bE0E0Tf E0(b1)bE0

Table 1: Efficiencies where basic ratio is positive. Overall ratio is defined as (input speed)/(output
speed).

Case

Input
Shaft

Fixed
Shaft

Output
Shaft

Overall
Ratio

Fast

Slow

Arm

1b

Fast

Arm

Slow

1E0bTs

Slow

Fast

Arm

b1b

Slow

Arm

Fast

Arm

Fast

Arm

Slow

Tf

Ts

Ta

Efficiency

Ta

bE01b1

Ts

1E0bE0bTs

E0

E0b1Ta

bE0bTa

Ta

bE0b1

1b

Tf

bE0Tf

bE0E0Tf

E0

Slow

bb1

1bE0Ts

Ts

1bE0bE0Ts E0(b1)bE01

Fast

11b

Tf

bE0Tf

bE0E0Tf E0(b1)bE0

1bE01Ta bE01bE0Ta

Table 2: Efficiencies where basic ratio is negative. Overall ratio is defined as (input
speed)/(output speed).

The overall efficiencies of planetary gearsets for various basic ratios are shown in the
figures below. The first two show overall efficiencies with a basic efficiency of 95% and
the second two show overall efficiencies if the basic efficiency is 80%. The vertical
scales are different in the two sets of figures. One trend is evident in the figures: Cases
1 and 4 produce unacceptable low efficiencies for positive basic ratios and relatively low
efficiencies for negative basic ratios. If the absolute value of the basic ratio must be
close to 1, then a negative basic ratio will produce much better results than a positive
basic ratio. It would seem that the designer should strive for Case 2 or 3 with a negative
basic ratio in all cases, since these always have the highest efficiencies. In fact, Cases 2
and 3 do not permit large overall reductions (see the "Overall Ratio" column in the tables

above), so we must usually compromise and use Cases 1 or 4 where large reductions
are required.

[1] Merritt, H.E. Gear Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, 1972

[2] Molian, S. Mechanism Design: an Introductory Text, Cambridge University Press,

1982